Tears and tributes flowed freely on Friday as the late Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja was laid to rest in Abuja, ending an illustrious military career that spanned decades.
The burial took place at the National Cemetery in the nation’s capital marking an end to two days of funeral rites that began in Lagos earlier in the week.
His body was lowered to Mother Earth at exactly 4:41 pm after the ceremony that lasted four over two hours.
Lagbaja’s casket, draped in Nigeria’s green and white colours, arrived at the cemetery around 3 pm in a white funeral wagon after a funeral service at the National Christian Centre in Abuja.
Several dignitaries attended the event. President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima; the Acting Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede; the Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa; the Minister of Defence Abubakar Badaru and other top government officials and military brass graced the occasion.
Before the late COAS’ internment, there was a service of songs the previous day at the Army Headquarters Garrison Parade Ground, Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja.
The Nigerian Air Force airplane carrying Lagbaja’s body arrived at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja around 12:15 pm on Thursday.
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